In the past, forging furnaces have generally been heated by the burning of fossil fuel such as oil or gas or they have been heated by the use of electricity. Fossil burning furnaces have heated the metal work pieces by radiant energy while the electric furnaces have employed induction or resistance heating. However, the prior art fossil fuel radiant heating furnaces are very noisy, release noxious fumes and raise the temperature in the vicinity of the furnace to a level which is uncomfortable to the operator. Moreover, the fossil fuel forging furnaces are relative inefficient being of the order of about 10 to 15 percent efficient. In recent years fossil fuels have not been available in certain geographic areas for some industrial uses, and furnaces operating on electricity would be desirable.
On the other hand, although electric heating is efficient (50-85%) induction or resistance heating equipment of the prior art is wasteful of the metal being forged inasmuch as the "holds" at the ends of each piece being forged must be discarded. For example, if the "hold" portions are each one inch in length and the piece being forged is eight inches in length, a nine inch bar must be used for each part being forged. There is thus a waste of about ten percent of the metal being forged. This is not the case where radiant heating is used and consequently, it is desirable to provide an electrically heated, radiant furnace for use in forging and similar operations such as upsetting.